Earlier this week I wrote an article that has been very well received about my Top 3 Training Locations in Takaka for the Spring Challenge. Now not all of you will have the opportunity to travel to Takaka to train for the event so you will want something adventurous close to your home location. How do you find somewhere near where you live?
Well I am going to reveal some of my secret resources on how to find somewhere great to go.
Our friendly travel agent Aunty Google is always available, however she can be a bit hit and miss depending on what search terms you enter. There are some good sites worth checking out that I will give you a little bit later. I am old school and prefer to get my information from books, because what people put on the internet, although well intentioned, might not be the best information.
Mountain Biking
For Mountain Biking in New Zealand you can not go past the Kennett Brothers -Jonathon, Simon & Paul’s book Classic New Zealand Mountain Biking Rides. This is a very thorough book covering all the main (and some niche) riding locations throughout the country (138 North Island rides and 172 South Island rides). The details they put in are very well written and easy to follow. When riding somewhere new I will often photocopy the relevant pages and tuck them in my back pocket during the ride to refer back to if needed. This is the gold standard for Mountain Biking Guides in New Zealand.
Also worth checking out are Jonathon Kennett’s guides to the Cycle Trail Network. A Guide To The South Island’s Top 5 Great Rides and A Guide To The North Island’s Top 5 Great Rides respectively. These guides are more in-depth and focus on the main cycle trails which are great locations to go and conduct some training with your team. Make a weekend of it.
Trekking/Hiking
There are a number of good guide books out there with really detailed descriptions and some even include mini-topo maps of the routes to go and explore our great country side. My go to guides are the ones linked below to Amazon. Also Peter Janssen has authored some great wee guidebooks.
Department of Conservation Website
The DoC website has a great search feature and you can narrow down your search based on duration, location etc…
Go to the Parks and Recreation > Walking and Tramping page to search for places to go for a Trek.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/walking-and-tramping/
Go to the Parks and Recreation > Mountain Biking page to search for places to go for a ride.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/mountain-biking/
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